Download Transgenic Organisms - OG

Transgenic Organisms
Transgenic, Recombinant DNA,
Cloning
Transgenic Organisms
• An organism made from taking the gene(s) of
one organism, and incorporating that gene(s)
into another
• The DNA of a transgenic organism is called
recombinant DNA, which is DNA produced by
combining DNA from different sources
• This means that the DNA has been
“recombined” by adding genes from
elsewhere, creating a transgenic organism
• “trans” = other and “genic” = genes
Why create transgenic organisms?
• Creates organisms with special characteristics
they don’t usually have
• Disease resistant, produce special proteins, etc
• Allows scientists to study the function of the
genes that are transferred in other organisms
• Write down 3 plant and animal examples to
remember
Glow in the Dark Cats
• The researchers took skin cells from Turkish Angora female
cats and used a virus to insert genetic instructions for making
red fluorescent protein. Then they put the gene-altered nuclei
into the eggs for cloning, and the cloned embryos were
implanted back into the donor cats — making the cats the
surrogate mothers for their own clones.
• The ability to engineer animals with fluorescent proteins will
enable them to artificially create animals with human genetic
diseases.
Enviropig, AKA “Frankenswine”
• Better digest and process phosphorus. Pig manure is high in phytate, a
form of phosphorus, so when farmers use the manure as fertilizer, the
chemical enters the watershed and causes algae blooms that deplete
oxygen in the water and kill marine life.
• Added an E. Coli bacteria and mouse DNA to a pig embryo. This
modification decreases a pig’s phosphorous output by as much as 70
percent — making the pig more environmentally friendly
Spider Goat
• Strong, flexible spider silk is one of the most valuable materials in nature,
and it could be used to make an array of products — from artificial
ligaments to parachute cords — if we could just produce it on a
commercial scale.
• Researchers inserted a spiders’ dragline silk gene into the goats’ DNA in
such a way that the goats would make the silk protein only in their milk.
This “silk milk” could then be used to manufacture a web-like material
called Biosteel
Fast-growing Salmon
• Grows twice as fast as the conventional variety
• Added growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to
produce growth hormone year-round. Scientists were able to keep the
hormone active by using a gene from an eel-like fish called an ocean pout,
which acts as an “on switch” for the hormone
• If the FDA approves the sale of the salmon, it will be the first time the
government has allowed modified animals to be marketed for human
consumption. According to federal guidelines, the fish would not have to
be labeled as genetically modified.
Glo Fish
• World's first commercially available transgenic animal
• Have had fluorescent proteins extracted from jellyfish
inserted into their DNA to make them glow green, orange, or
red
• Originally for studying water pollutants - insert genes for
proteins that would fluoresce in the presence of certain
contaminants
Brainbow Mouse
• Four fluorescent proteins in varying combinations and saturations, much
like a television is able to convey almost every color conceivable through
the use of only three colors
• Over 90 different shades
• The colorful cells were individual neurons and the colors helped scientists
distinguish one cell from another
Cancer-resistant Mouse
• A mouse that was resistant to spontaneous and artificially
induced tumors
• Its inability to get cancer is due to the insertion of a gene that
codes for a protein called Par-4. This protein specifically kills
cancer cells without affecting normal cells, which according to
researcher Vivek M. Rangnekar makes it "a tumor suppressor
that would be ideal for therapeutic intervention strategies.”
Mighty Mice
• Can run for 25 times as long as normal mice at the same
speed, and they eat more and live longer. Bred as a tool to
investigate the metabolic enzyme PEPCK-C, which plays a role
in the generation of glucose, the mice are genetically altered
to over-produce this enzyme
Fearless Mouse
• Removing the gene for stathmin, an enzyme that is found in
high levels in an area of the brain implicated in emotional
processing and fear
• While these mice developed normally and their other types of
memory were normal, they showed deficits in long-term
potentiation, a process that is necessary to fear conditioning
and may play a role in innate fear
• Studying the role of genes in emotional responses such as
fear.
Drug-Producing Chicken
• Chickens are simpler and more efficient factories than
synthetic methods for producing pharmaceutical proteins (the
proteins are extracted from the egg white).
• Next aim is to produce an egg that contains an antibody
against a virus of the gut. "The idea is that children will eat
the egg white and the antibody will protect them from
developing a diarrhoeal disease."
Aedes Mosquito
• Males that are genetically altered to be sterile
are released into the wild. These infertile
mosquitoes mate with females and produce
no offspring, reducing the mosquito
population.
• Fight mosquito-mediated diseases
Medicinal Eggs
• Breed of genetically modified hens that produce cancer-fighting medicines
in their eggs. The animals have had human genes added to their DNA so
that human proteins are secreted into the whites of their eggs, along with
complex medicinal proteins similar to drugs used to treat skin cancer and
other diseases
Emerald Sea Slug
• May be the first known naturally-occurring transgenic species
• It is able to use the chloroplasts from the algae on which it
feeds to create energy by photosynthesis. No other animals
have the genes necessary to utilize chloroplasts this way.
• The gene sequence identical to that of an algal photosynthetic
gene may have been naturally integrated into the sea slug's
DNA in the past
• Give insight into the possibility of plant-to-animal gene
transfer in other species.
Less Flatulent Cows
• Cows produce significant amounts of methane as a result of their
digestion process — it’s produced by a bacterium that’s a byproduct of
cows’ high-cellulosic diets that include grass and hay. Methane is a major
contributor — second only to carbon dioxide — to the greenhouse effect,
so scientists have been working to genetically engineer a cow that
produces less methane
• Agriculture research scientists at the University of Alberta have identified
the bacterium responsible for producing methane and designed a line of
cattle that creates 25 percent less methane than the average cow
FLAVR SVR Tomato
• First commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a
license for human consumption
• Adding an antisense gene slows the ripening process of the tomato to
prevent softening and rotting, while allowing the tomato to retain its
natural flavor and color.
• The FDA approved the Flavr Savr in 1994; however, the tomatoes were so
delicate that they were difficult to transport, and they were off the market
by 1997. On top of production and shipping problems, the tomatoes were
also reported to have a very bland taste
Venomous Cabbage
• Incorporates the gene that programs poison in scorpion tails
• These genetically modified cabbages would produce scorpion
poison that kills caterpillars when they bite leaves — but the
toxin is modified so it isn’t harmful to humans.
Pollution-fighting plants
• Absorb groundwater pollutants through their roots. The plants then break
the pollutants down into harmless byproducts that are incorporated into
their roots, stems and leaves or released into the air.
• In laboratory tests, the transgenic plants are able to remove as much as 91
percent of trichloroethylene — the most common groundwater
contaminant at U.S. Superfund sites — out of a liquid solution. Regular
poplar plants removed just 3 percent of the contaminant.
Banana Vaccine
• When an altered form of a virus is injected into a banana sapling, the
virus’ genetic material quickly becomes a permanent part of the plant’s
cells.
• As the plant grows, its cells produce the virus proteins — but not the
infectious part of the virus. When people eat a bite of a genetically
engineered banana, which is full of virus proteins, their immune systems
build up antibodies to fight the disease — jus
• Also done in potatoes, lettuce, carrots and tobacco
Genetically-modified Trees
• To grow faster, yield better wood and even detect biological
attacks
• For example, Australian eucalyptus trees have been altered to
withstand freezing temperatures, and loblolly pines have been
created with less lignin, the substance that gives trees their
rigidity. In 2003, the Pentagon even awarded Colorado State
researchers $500,000 to develop pine trees that change color
when exposed to biological or chemical attack
• Black Hills Pine Beetle???
Laura Cinti Cactus (Hairy Cactus)
• Laura Cinti, a
British artist made
it for a work of art
• Gene keratin that
makes hair and
fingernails
transferred to
cactus
• Real or fake?
Blue Rose
• Gene for blue pigment
taken from other plant
• Blue roses are NOT natural;
they are transgenic
• Aesthetic purpose (they’re
pretty…) but no real
scientific value itself